Different Thanksgivings You Encounter as a Young Adult

For many Americans, Thanksgiving acts as the beginning of the Winter holiday season. From late November through December many events, gatherings, dinners, and parties tend to be very family-centric. As a young adult, this can be difficult to navigate when you may not feel like a certain place is home, or you may physically not be able to be with family at this time. However, if you can keep an open mind, the holidays away from home do not have to be a total bust! Here are five different Thanksgivings you may find yourself celebrating as a young adult.

Thanksgiving Abroad

PC: Kalianni

I have spent Thanksgiving abroad a couple times in my short-lived young adult life. However, both experiences were completely different. The first time, my entire family decided my school’s Thanksgiving break was the perfect time to get together and cruise to Mexico. We left our traditional dining room turkey dinner for the beaches of Cabo San Lucas. While I am not used to celebrating by snorkeling and spending the day in shorts and a bikini, it was fun to mix up our normal celebration and still spend time with family. My second Thanksgiving abroad was while I was studying in Florence. My friends and I were longing an American-esque Thanksgiving being that it was our first Thanksgivings without family so we took the long weekend to explore London and found an amazing Thanksgiving dinner in the city.

Friendsgiving has become much popular and even trendy in the last few years. Some people even enjoy friendsgiving more because it often comes without the political tension or the “no, Grandma, I still do not have a boyfriend” conversations that some family dinners entail. Typically friendsgiving is a group effort where everybody brings a dish. It can be used as an excuse to get fancy af with friends, take pics, and enjoy time with one another!

Some college campuses have really sweet traditions of celebrating the holiday at school. For many, it is not realistic to leave campus for such a short break and these campuses utilize their resources to still make the day special. Whether it’s having a campus-wide dinner, enjoying the holiday with the dean, or being hosted by wonderful faculty these campuses have figured how to bring the holiday to campus!

From the second I got on campus this Fall semester, my friends who live locally or regionally have been so gracious to invite me over for holidays and family dinners and have checked in relentlessly to make sure all of our friends who don’t live nearby have somewhere to celebrate the holidays. It really means the world to me to have such generous and loving friends and there really is nothing better than a home-cooked meal even if it’s not specifically your fam.

At the end of the day, hopefully, you will be able to spend some Thanksgivings with your family. After all, traditions are traditions for a reason and there is nothing like spending quality time with your family, making a meal together, and always avoiding the “have you met someone?” question.